


Getting in the Zone

by DarkJediQueen



Series: The Guardians [17]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Crossover, Death, Genocide, Graphic depictions of violence - Freeform, M/M, Science Fantasy, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-28 09:31:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15704526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: First visit to Mars and they have a big impenetrable Zone to get through.





	Getting in the Zone

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Rivermoon1970](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivermoon1970/gifts).



> **Spoilers** : Destiny: Through D2: Warmind, Criminal Minds: Up Through Season 13,
> 
>  **Notes** : Trying my hardest to make sure that it'll make sense, with time, for people who don't play Destiny but you can find more information at the [Destiny Wikia](http://destiny.wikia.com/wiki/Destiny_Wiki).
> 
>  **Warnings** : Graphic Depictions of Violence, Death, War, Genocide
> 
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

"You've been to Mars?" Aaron asked as he settled in behind Spencer. Spencer knew that they had a lot to talk about, but he hadn't wanted to do it on the Reef, even if his siblings probably weren't listening in. It hadn't dawned on Aaron yet that Spencer had been distracting him with sex but it would and then it would all come to a head. Right now they had a mission, and that was distracting Aaron.

"I have. Bray Tech was pretty much based here. I traveled back and forth between Mercury and Mars a great deal. Ana worked here."

"You've mentioned Ana and Elsie before. Who were they?" Aaron asked.

"I worked with them. Got close to Ana. She was like a sister. She was brilliant like I was and we got along because we had a lot of the same problems growing up. Being intelligent isn't all it's cracked up to be, even in the Golden Age. We were still considered freaks. We understood-" Spencer stopped himself because he had almost given Aaron too much information. "We could understand tech on a level that scared some people. I don't wonder sometimes if we were targets because of that. She was a psycholinguist, and we worked on a project together before the Collapse."

"What happened to her?"

"She died. Twice," Spencer said. He settled the ship in orbit around Mars. His eyes went to where the main Bray Tech facility was and where Rasputin was housed. The Warmind was awake, but there was too much that Spencer didn't know about him and what he had become in the years without Ana and him. "She died and became a Hunter." Spencer turned in his seat to look at Aaron. "She was adopted into the Bray family because of her intelligence, but Clovis loved her like he did his other children, and at least one resented Ana for that. She was gifted, and I loved working with her. The last few years, working with her on our project, it was the happiest that I had been since my parents died. I was visiting Moira and Uilliam when the Collapse happened. I regret that I went with them sometimes when I wasn't sure what happened to Ana. I found her in the database. She became a Hunter, gunslinger. Like you."

"The look on your face is the same as when you talk about Moira and Uilliam, or I think I would be jealous." Aaron cupped Spencer's face and smiled. "You said she died twice. Meaning that she had her final death at some point."

"Twilight Gap. And you don't have to worry about me having feelings for her. She's much like me, more inclined to the same gender than the opposite. She died at the Battle of Twilight Gap. One of many that their bodies Ghost or Guardian, were never recovered. For a little while, I thought that maybe that meant she wasn't dead, but she's never surfaced, and I don't see her remaining out of the battle for that long."

"I can see it. If the two of you are connected the way that you seem, I can see it. If she found something that she needed to look into. Do you know if she was one of the ones that had no memory of who they were?" Aaron looked upset for Spencer but not upset at Spencer. Spencer tipped himself forward, falling into Aaron's arms for comfort. Aaron wrapped his arms around him, tightly. Aaron bore his weight like it was nothing, even though Spencer had all of his armor on except for his helmet.

"I think she was. There were things that I read of hers that it felt like something was missing but not on purpose but like she didn't know to add it."

"I could see you disappearing if you had found something else to discover and you feared that the Vanguard would mess with it. If you two were as close as you say, I could see it."

"You are right. I'll have to see if I can find her, her body or her Ghost. She named her Ghost Jinju. It's a Korean unisex name. It was the name of a detective in a book series that we loved to read. The character was intersex but used female pronouns. We loved the books."

"It sounds like it could be interesting."

"I have them on my tablet. Speaking of, I found a second one in my stuff when we left, I think that Moira gave it to me."

"You know that we can't call them that when we get back to the Vanguard right," Aaron said before he tipped Spencer's face up to his own. "GARCIA and I will keep those secrets, but if that connection is figured out, it's going to be bad."

"I know, but it's going to take a little time to think of them as Mara and Uldren Sov instead of Moira and Uilliam Reid. I can understand why they shed those names though. I can't, I can't get rid of mom and dad like that, but I haven't had the time like they have to turn into what they are. They are still them though, and they love their people. I can't fault them for doing the best that they can to save their people."

"Your people," Aaron said, and he tipped his face down to press a kiss to Spencer's lips. "Our people."

"Our?" Spencer looked at Aaron, trying to read his mind. Spencer was a Guardian, like Aaron and while Spencer was Awoken, it wasn't how the people looked at him. He was Guardian first ad Awoken second.

"I know that to the Guardians we are Guardians and nothing else, but we have to be more than that. I feel a kinship to other Hunters, Gunslingers especially. I feel more of a pull toward the Awoken than I do them. It's why I think I am closer to Emily than anyone else in our little group. You are my family, and they are your family, and that makes them mine as well."

Spencer leaned in a kissed Aaron because words were failing him. He couldn't express what he was feeling except with his mouth, pouring his entire emotional profile into it. Aaron wrapped his arms around him, even tighter.

"I hate to disrupt, but we are nearing where we need to go," GARCIA said.

"Back to work," Aaron said, but before he pulled away, he rubbed his nose on Spencer's. Spencer blushed at the tenderness and pushed himself out of Aaron's arms. Aaron grabbed his helmet and tucked it under his arm as he crouched at Spencer's side as they started their descent onto Mars.

"Meridian Bay," Spencer said. He touched a few keys on the console in front of him. "The Barrens as it's called now, the place we are heading. "Uldren told me about it. The coordinates that they gave us puts the gate to The Black Garden near the lost city of Freehold. It's been buried in the sand since the Collapse. Now the Cabal occupies the area. Really they occupy most of Mars. Their Exclusion Zone is absolute. No one gets through it."

"Until now," Aaron said.

"Yes, until now." Spencer piloted the ship until it hovered in a crag that they had to back into. Hiding them from other eyes. Spencer kind of regretted the ship that they were using at it was a slight bit larger than their old one, but it was beautiful, and Spencer liked knowing that his siblings had made it for him.

"Ready?" Aaron asked as he stood up and put his helmet on. Spencer nodded and grabbed his to put it on before gathering his weapon and attaching them to his body. His knives were back on his legs where they belonged, and he smiled as he thought about the look on Moira's face as Spencer had held the knife to Uilliam's neck. The fear that Spencer knew well but also the promise that she was intrigued. Playing with dangerous things had always been Spencer and his twin's weakness. It was probably why Spencer had been made into a Guardian or at least part of the reason.

Aaron transmatted out of the ship first, and Spencer waited for the all-clear signal before he went down as well. There was sand everywhere, but Spencer was used to that. He actually didn't mind sand like many did and the suit for his armor was sealed to where it wasn't going to get inside, but he would have to make sure that the joints on his armor were kept clean so that they didn't lock up when he needed them. GARCIA set the ship into a flight path that took it up into safety but would keep it close just in case.

"Well that's just great," GARCIA bitched as she appeared in front of them. Her body was pulled apart like she was scanning.

"What's wrong?" Aaron asked.

"The gate to The Black Garden is miles from where, and the Cabal have locked down all orbital communications. If you want your Sparrows, we are going to have to break into one of their bunkers to disable the system."

"And keep it down so that they can't get it up again. That's our first goal then," Spencer said. He looked around trying to figure out exactly where they were. The sand that was everywhere made it hard but if he could just see one thing that he knew he would be good. Though that didn't help them find a bunker because well...those weren't around the last time that Spencer had been on Mars.

The Cabal was mainly an unknown enemy to most of the Earthbound Guardians. The Cabal hadn't tried to attack Earth, they were content to fight the Vex and the Fallen and stick to the edges of the Galaxy and watch.

"I have found something," GARCIA said, and a marker appeared on Spencer's HUD. It as a small distance away across open sand but there didn't seem to be any enemies close to them, at the moment.

Spencer knew that the Cabal had seen them arrive and had not shot them out of the sky. It had to be boring to protect a planet that people were scared of invading. There were tracks were vehicles had driven over the sand enough to leave ruts in it, but Aaron was angled toward the side, where a canyon wall would at least give them some protection. Spencer walked fast not quite a jog, but he slipped in front of Aaron with a pinch between armor pieces and on his asscheek. Aaron swatted at his back softly.

"TEll us what you have on the Cabal, GARCIA," Aaron said as they neared the first almost pinch point in the canyon wall.

"The main troops are eight hundred and highly militarized, called Legionaries. Those will be the ones that we fight the most. The rest are Psions, Phalanx, and Centurions. They blow up planets and moons just for getting in their way."

"So they are militarized children," Spencer interrupted when GARCIA stopped to think on her words.

"Yes."

"Well at least we know what we are dealing with," Aaron deadpanned.

The canyon wall started to shift, moving to shield them from the view above but they lost the ability to stay hidden really from anything in front of them. It was interesting to see how the Cabal went for the easier paths instead of breaking the canyon walls, considering that they blew up moons and planets that got in their way. Still, military minds were very different than other minds and Spencer sometimes couldn't grasp their way of thinking enough to be able to provide a defense against them. It would be up to Aaron to carry them for that.

Spencer knew that the Cabal had been there for a while because their bunkers were well hidden by sand. Years and years of sand building up around the base and scoring the metal.

There was a lot of metal everywhere, but it mostly matched the color of the dark canyon walls.

"They are all inside. I see nor sense anything that's outside," GARCIA said as Spencer cleared a hatch that went down into the sand and rock. "My advice, we avoid engagement until we understand them better. There isn't a lot of information on tactics other than just blowing shit up."

"Unlock the door, GARCIA," Aaron said without confirming or denying that they were going to avoid engagement. GARCIA floated up to the lock and worked on it. In a short time, almost too short a time, the door was opening.

"Hmm...that was much easier than I thought it was going to be. Their systems are almost...antiquated."

Spencer stepped inside, waiting for Aaron's movement to register on his track before he started to move a little faster. There was nothing inside from what Spencer could see, which troubled him.

"Scanning for something that is linked to the Orbital Grids," GARCIA whispered in their helmets even though she didn't have to whisper as her voice was only over the comms.

There was a lot of crates of supplies as well as large hoses that ran along the floor everywhere. It was a little-used area, given the sand that was everywhere. Spencer slowly cleared the offshoot tunnels they came across while he trusted that Aaron was watching what was going on in front and behind them. After a little distance, they came to an area that started up. Spencer could see that the tunnel went to the left so he angled that way and when he got to the corner he peered around it.

Just a short distance down that part of the tunnel and a beacon popped on Spencer's HUD. He started toward the computer terminal. Aaron stopped just behind him, and Spencer could see him out of the corner of his eye. Aaron was looking ahead to where they hadn't been yet.

GARCIA popped out of the air and started to scan the terminal while Spencer tried to see if he could work on it as well. The Cabal written language was interesting, and Spencer had learned a little of it. Some of what other Guardians had brought back with them after the few missions that they had come across the Cabal.

"DOS is more complicated than this, GARCIA. It wants an access key though."

"Yes, I'm well aware. I'm trying to make it understand that I don't NEED an access key." GARCIA paused, in word and in movement. "Oh."

"Oh, what?" Aaron asked, and then alarms started to blare. Spencer looked at Aaron to see him glaring at GARCIA. "GARCIA?"

"I think I initiated a fail-safe."

Spencer really wanted to make a very sarcastic statement then but lights going off and alarms blaring said that he needed to be ready for Cabal to descend on them. The alarms were getting louder. A door started to open up in front of them, and Spencer watched Aaron run to the other side of the tunnel. They were spread out which would decrease the fire at either of them if there were Cabal on the other side of that door. Spencer had seen drawings of Cabal before, but little information had been in the drawings, just names. Legionaries and Phalanxes were being dropped off in what Spencer was pretty sure was a Harvester. They opened fire on Spencer and Aaron. Spencer raised his Scout Rifle and took aim because the troops firing at them were missing more than hitting anywhere near him. Spencer focused on the Phalanxes that were there, they tried to hide behind their shields, but their feet stuck out and just like any other creatures they react when their legs are hit. The shield moved, and Spencer watched Aaron take it out with a headshot. They repeated that on the other two Phalanxes that were there and then worked on the Legionaries. Spencer kind of got a little thrill because when killed with a headshot, their heads exploded and sparks went off.

"I guess that was their fail-safe," GARCIA said when the Cabal were dead.

"WOrk on the computer, GARCIA," Aaron yelled across the tunnel as another Harvester dropped off more Cabal. It was the same as the time before, and then GARCIA was crying out in joy.

"We are linked to our Sparrows, and I turned off the alarm." GARCIA moved to bob in front of Spencer in happiness. "We can head toward the gate."

Spencer took the lead out passed where the doors were and realized that they had just come back about ten feet from where they had gone under. He could see where they had landed. Spencer called forth his Sparrow and smiled as he sat astride it. There were large open areas around them, and it would be easy to get anywhere on their Sparrow. The Cabal were also slow under their armor and just the sheer girth of them. Aaron settled in beside him on his Sparrow, bumping it against Spencer's. Spencer bumped back.

"Ready?" Aaron asked.

"Yes." Spencer started toward where GARCIA had a beacon on his HUD. There were a lot of dunes that Spencer had fun kind of going up the side of before dropping back down to stay on the path he needed to. The Sparrow moved a little different with the sand below it. It wasn't hard, just different like it was different going over water.

Scablands appeared on Spencer's HUD as they started down a rocky area of the canyon they were headed down.

"The Cabal appear to be at war with the Vex here. Maybe they know something about the Gate. There are a few outposts near where we are. Let's check them out for more information before we take on the Gate."

"That sounds like a good plan," Aaron said.

They traveled a little further and then rounded a corner. In front of them was a group of Vex fighting a group of Cabal.

"If you want to get in the middle of that, be my guest," GARCIA said as Spencer angled himself toward the enemies. Spencer looked at Aaron because no one had noticed their arrival yet. Aaron shook his head, so Spencer angled toward the outpost and rocketed down that way. They entered another canyon and Spencer went at top speed through it, just in case, there were snipers of some kind.

"An outpost should be up ahead," GARCIA said when they had dipped down a path in the canyon. "I can dig into their systems and see what I can find out the Gate. Look for something that I can access."

"Yes, Ma'am," Spencer said, and he even raised his hand up to give a mock salute, knowing that GARCIA would know that he did it.

"Smart ass," GARCIA said, but her voice was fond.

The outpost that Spencer saw was densely filled with Cabal. Of course, it would have to be because that was his luck, always his luck. Spencer slowed down, and before the Sparrow was even stopped, he was getting off of it and firing at the Cabal. He trusted that GARCIA would get the Sparrow to safety so that it wasn't hit by stray shots.

Aaron started to fire just seconds after Spencer. The firefight was short, but Spencer was winded by the time it was over. The Cabal were good at the moving target thing. It made it hard to stay still himself to hit them. They weaved in and out of rocks and crates. There were two sets of enemies, so they weren't able to use the strategy that they had before. Spencer picked off his own Cabal while Aaron worked on his own.

When all the Cabal were dead, Spencer walked up to find an access port so that GARCIA could hack into it.

"Okay, I need to know who is in charge and you need to take their key from them."

A Harvester dropped off more enemies, so Spencer reloaded his Scout Rifle and started to fire before the Cabal were even on the ground. One Legionary was dead before he could actually land on the sand. Aaron was picking off anyone that he could, focusing on the Phalanx with his Sniper Rifle. It was a good strategy. A rush of purple energy hit Spencer, and he was thrown up in the air. When he landed, he looked around and saw a Psion. Spencer aimed and shot it in the head.

"Be careful of the Psions, Aaron. They have ranged attacks."

"I saw," Aaron said back before he took out one on the far side of the outpost.

Another Harvester dropped more enemies, and Spencer saw that one was a huge Centurion. Bracus Tho'ourg was the name that popped onto his HUD. Aaron focused on him while Spencer worked on the smaller enemies. When most of the small enemies were dead, Aaron rushed at Bracus and pulled his Golden Gun. The rest of the enemies were all close so Spencer used his Nova Bomb on them, watching the swirling purple energy take them out. Aaron was able to find the access key.

"There is another Cabal outpost right near the Gate. Let's hope this key works for it."

The Sparrows appeared before Spencer could even pull on that little neural link he had and summon it. GARCIA really wanted to get this done quickly if she was bypassing something she usually let them do.

Spencer raced forward on the Sparrow, and before long they were in the Valley of the Kings, which made Spencer think of Earth and Egypt and the kings of old that were buried there. There was a large gate to the far left, but it wasn't active. Spencer bet that it was the Gate they were looking for. The Gate to the Black Garden. To Spencer's right was a larger outpost that was built into the mountain terrain.

There was Cabal crawling all over the outpost. There were enough barricades that they had to push into the outpost to take out the Cabal. Spencer took the left side while Aaron took the right. Only the sounds of gunfire told Spencer that Aaron was still firing. There were not as many Cabal as there had been at the last outpost. It still took time to take them all out and then there was the port to find.

Spencer looked around and then realized that there was something up on top of the rocks to the right of where he was standing. Spencer slung his gun over his shoulder and started toward them. The rocks were not spaced close enough to where he could climb up them, but he could blink up them. Spencer took off running and jumped, landing on top of one set before doing it again and again before he landed on the tip-top of the rocks where there was a small bunker. Spencer grinned because it was precisely what they were looking for. He turned to yell for Aaron to find him triple jumping up the side.

"I don't know if you are more fearless or less since you've gotten the hang of blinking," Aaron said, panting a little from the fight and jumping. Spencer just shrugged in answer to his not question. He turned to go in through the actual opening instead of the glassless window. He could act like a normal person when he wanted to. Aaron was laughing as he followed him. "You wanted to climb through the window didn't you."

"Shut up," Spencer said, and he turned to give Aaron a very single finger rude gesture from Old Earth. Spencer found the console and saw the nearly invisible hologram of the structure around the Gate. Spencer had no clue why someone would program it to be the color of sand. Spencer shook his head as GARCIA appeared. Aaron was facing the back, scanning for the arrival of more enemies.

"Let's see what they know about the Gate," GARCIA said as she started the hack. "Impressive, the Cabal managed to penetrate the Vex cognition mesh."

"That is impressive. Let's brawn and more brain than we thought huh?" Aaron asked.

"Yes."

Spencer looked up and saw that the Gate began to surge with electricity. "Aaron."

Aaron jogged over to him and frowned at the Gate. It was like it was waking up. Spencer watched as it started to open but the teleportation field collapsed before it got that far. There was a resounding crash that echoed around the canyon. It kind of hurt SPencer's ears.

"There's a lot here. I'm not sure they even understand what the Gate is. But if we are going to wake the Gate Lord's Eye and get into the Black Garden, looks like we're going to have to go through the Cabal."

"It's not like we aren't used to going through things to get what we want." Spencer stared at the Gate a few more seconds before he turned around to face Aaron, who was back to watching the Cabal that were in the far reaches of the outpost.

"Is it safe for the Galliot to come and get us?"

"I think I have a spot mapped out, yes," GARCIA said.

"Good. Have it come and get us. I don't trust to sleep here overnight like we did on Venus."

"Neither do I," Spencer said.

"It'll be here in a few minutes. Down on the other side." GARCIA moved over to hover on the side that they hadn't come up. Spencer walked over and looked down. There were no signs of Cabal at all on that side. Like they set up the outpost but didn't check this side. Though it was far into the Exclusion Zone, why would they think anyone had got inside of there.

Spencer went down first, and Aaron was second. Spencer was thirsty, but he didn't want to take the chance and take off his helmet for a drink. He could wait until they were in the Galliot. Spencer heard the engines of the ship, and the sound of them sent a shiver through his body. GARCIA had Spencer transmatted in first, and Aaron followed seconds later. Spencer left GARCIA to pilot them out of the Exclusion Zone. Spencer ripped his helmet off and grabbed the jug of water that was in a little nook on the ship. Spencer only drank a little bit of it, it was normal room temperature, but still, he didn't want to chug it. Aaron took his helmet off, and when Spencer handed over the jug, he gladly took it.

"GARCIA, privacy mode please," Aaron said.

"Fine," GARCIA answered, but she disappeared.

"How do you trust that?"

"Because as much as she is a snoop unless it's Morgan who she feels doesn't deserve privacy from her unless she's pissed at him, she understands that we need privacy. I've not used it that much, but JJ told me about it. I think she was hoping that you and I would never find out about it."

"So what do we need to talk about in privacy?"

"Sometimes things don't hit me like they would other people. It's like my subconscious thinks about things for a while and then come to a conclusion without me ever thinking about it."

"Okay."

"How many times have you distracted me from asking questions that you don't want to answer or to distract me from a line of questions that are going places you don't want with sex?"

Spencer was very glad that he wasn't drinking the water at that moment. He looked at Aaron with what he was sure was a gobsmacked look on his face. He was a little upset because he kind of hope Aaron never noticed. The only big secret that Spencer had left was Rasputin. He really wasn't going to reveal that until he had to but he also now wasn't going to use sex to try and get Aaron off of the topic. Maybe one of those rambles that he was known for when he was in school was an excellent secondary plan. He went on enough small ones that Spencer was sure that Aaron would never notice that.

"At least twice that I know actively I was doing it. Maybe more. There is so much that I know that sometimes I don't know if revealing it will be good or bad. There was so much Bray Tech that I worked on that would help but if I can't find the plans for it or the machines to make it, it would be cruel to give that hope. I look, and if we can get better access to Mars, I can maybe find something for us to use."

"I don't care about the tech you can give us, Spencer. I care about you. I'd rather you tell me that you don't want to tell me instead of hiding and plying me with sex. I like the sex, and I don't want to start to fear that you are using it as something not good."

"I won't."

Aaron nodded and took a drink from the jug before handing it back.

"That took a lot out of me," Spencer said. Mars was warmer than the other planets they had been too and just much more brighter. "And we have probably days more here."

"We'll adjust slowly. We just gotta not push ourselves. Marathon not race."

Spencer laughed and shook his head, but he passed the jug back to Aaron. He looked worn out but happy, and Spencer knew that he was the reason for that happiness. Any bit of light in the darkness made it all worth it.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> Sign-ups for authors and artists have begun for Every Fandom Big Bang, which accepts pairings from any fandom! Our motto is "Your fandom fits our bang!" The story minimum word count is only 5K with no max. For more information or to sign up go to [Every Fandom Big Bang](https://everyfandombangs.wordpress.com) on WordPress. Stories can be posted here. So, if you don't have a WordPress account it's not a big deal.


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